Various cleaning articles have been created for dusting and light cleaning. For example, cloth rags and paper towels used dry or wetted with polishing and cleaning compositions have been used on relatively flat surfaces. But, rags and paper towels are problematic for reasons such as hygiene (the user's hand may touch chemicals, dirt or the surface during cleaning), reach (it may be difficult to insert the user's hand with the rag or paper towel into hard-to-reach places) and inconvenience (cleaning between closely-spaced articles typically requires moving the articles).
To overcome the problems associated with using rags and paper towels, various dust gathering devices having feathers, lamb's wool, and synthetic fibers brushes have been utilized for more than a century as illustrated by U.S. Pat. No. 823,725 issued in 1906 to Hayden. Such dust gathering devices can be expensive to manufacture, and as such are designed to be cleaned and reused. One problem associated with a reusable dust gathering device is that such a dust gathering devices may not hold or trap dust very well. As such, soils trapped by dust gathering devices are prone to redeposit dust during use, which can require the cleaning process to be repeated.
Furthermore, soiled reusable devices are typically cleaned via shaking or through other mechanical agitation. This process is not entirely satisfactory as it entails an extra step during (and often interrupting) or following the cleaning process. Furthermore, the attempted restoration of the device may not be successful, allowing further redeposit of the dust collected thereon.
To address the problems experienced with reusable dust gathering devices, disposable dust gathering devices have been developed which have limited re-usability. These disposable dust gathering devices may include brush portions made of synthetic fiber bundles attached to a non-woven sheet (nonwoven). Such devices may be made, for example, according to U.S. Pat. No. 6,813,801 B2, US Publication 2005/0097695 A1 and/or EP 1,299,026 B1.
These references disclose disposable cleaning articles attachable to and removable from a reusable handle. The articles may be elongate along a longitudinal axis, flat, and/or may be “fluffed” to increase their thickness. Such articles may be sided, having a preferential cleaning side, which is the side typically used for contacting a target surface to remove dust therefrom. Opposite the cleaning side may be a second side, usable as an attachment side. The attachment side is usable for attaching the duster to a handle.
The handle may have a grip which is held by the user during cleaning and one or more means for removably attaching the handle to the disposable duster. Common means for removably attaching the handle to the duster include one or more elongate tines. The one or more tines may be inserted into one or more complementary sleeves disposed on the duster. A common geometry comprises two longitudinally parallel elongate times on the handle which are inserted into complementary longitudinally parallel elongate sleeves disposed on the attachment side of the duster.
However, a duster having a single preferential cleaning side may require two passes to clean a crevice or opposed surfaces of closely spaced articles—a first pass to clean one side of the crevice/one surface and a second pass to clean the opposite side/surface. This increases the time of the cleaning process—assuming the user even remembers to reverse the duster for the second pass.
To overcome this problem, dusters having plural sides, up to a nominally 360 degrees usable circumference, have been proposed. However, such dusters can be complex, and thus expensive, to manufacture.
To overcome the manufacturing complexity, and thereby reduce cost, one attempt may be to manufacture a plural sided duster. Such a duster may be manufactured by placing two or more dusters in back-to-back relationship with the attachment sides facing the center and the preferential cleaning surfaces facing outwardly. This arrangement provides the simplicity of being able to use two (or more) identical dusters to make a single cleaning device.
However, if the second sides are placed inwardly, i.e. facing towards the center of the device, it may be difficult for the user to utilize (or even directly touch) the attachment system for attaching the handle. For example, if the common dual sleeve arrangement is utilized, the sleeves may not even be visible to the user. This makes it difficult for the user to properly align the handle for attachment to the duster.
While attempts to improve the cleaning characteristics of dust gathering devices have been made, the search still continues to reduce the problems and inefficiencies of dusters, particularly as related to a plural sided duster for cleaning a target surface.